Lawrence h



July 28, 1925. 1,547,470

L. H. UNDERWOOD TANK HEATING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 14, 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 :75 65 July 28, 1925.

L. H. UNDERWOOD TANK HEATING APPARATUS Filed Feb. 14 1921 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 28, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT I OFFICE.

LAWRENCE H. UNDERWOOD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN TAB PRODUCTS COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE rank-HEATING arrana'ros.

Application filed February 14, 1921. Serial No. 445,036.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAWRENCE H. Unreawooo, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Tank-Heating Apparatus, of which the following is a spec1- fication.

This invention relates to tank apparatus and is of especial utility in conjunction with storage tanks or holders that are employed for viscid, gummyand slu gish materials, such as tar, which are di cult to handle, especially when it is desired to draw oil such materials from the receptacles or tanks containing them. An essential object of the invention is to provide an improved discharging means that is especial y designed and constructed for use in tanks containlng materials having the general characteristics above specified; the present improved discharging means insures a ready discharge of the material from. a tank selectively from a plurality of or a single point within the E3 tank and prevents clogging of the material at each of the discharging points, without any injury whatever to the material, by the provision of heatin meanslocated at each discharge point, said heating means being 3 readily removable without draining the tank.

In addition to the general objects recited above, the invention has for other objects such other improvements and advantages in construction and operation as are found to obtain in the structure and device hereinafter described or claimed.

in the accompan ing drawings, lormin a part of this speci cation and showing, or

purposes of exemplification, a preferred form and manner in which the invention may be embodied and practiced, but without limiting the claimed invention to such illus: trative instance or instances:

Figure 1 is a plan and horizontal sectional view of a tank equipped with the improvements of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevational view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section of one of the discharging means taken in a plane indicated by the line 33 in Fig. 1; Fig. 4 'is a transverse vertical section taken in a plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Fig. 3, and

Fig. 5 is a detailed elevational view of 56 the outside end of a discharging means.

The same characters of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the invention is incorporated in a tank that is especially designed for the storage of a viscid liquid bituminous material, such as tar. For convenience, the pi'esent description will be confined to the present illustrated embodiment of the invention in such a tar tank; the novel features and improvements made by the invention are susceptible of other a plications, such, for example to other ta s and for the discharge of materials other than tarhence, the scope of the invention is not confined to the specific use and specific embodiment herein described as an illustrative exam le.

Referring to the drawings, t ere are illustrated views of a tar tank of the usual type and indicated generally by the reference character 11. The tar is discharged, when desired, from the bottom 12 of the tank and, in accordance with the invention the dis- 3Q charge of the tar is efiected from a plurality of separately controlled discharge outlets 13 in the bottom of the tank 11. Each outlet 13 communicates with a branch pipe 14 provided with a valve 15 for controlling the discharge of tar; the several branch pipes 14 lead to and are connected with a manitold 16 and the latter carriers the dis-. charged tar to a discharge line 17. The discharge outlets 13 are loca at dificrent W points in the bottom of the tank 11, as shown more particularl in Fig. 1 and because of the individually operable controlling valves 15 discharge of tar may be effected from only one or concurrently from Q anyknumber otthe discharge outlets in the tan I Extending over each discharge outlet 13 and from the end wall of the tank inwardly into the tank is a hood 18. Positioned at the inner end of each hood 18 is a valve seat 19, preferably inclined as shown, and having an inlet 20. The inlet 20 is opened or closed to control the dew of tar into the space beneath the hood 18 b means of a gate valve 21, which when c osed seats in the inlet 20. The gate valve 21 is pivoted at its upper end to the valve seat 19, as shown at 22 and is pivotally connected by means of a link 23 with the horizontal arm of a bell crank lever 24. The bell crank lever 24 is pivoted at 25 to an upright extendin from the to of the seat 19 and the vertica arm of sai lever is pivotally connected by means of a link 23 with an o erating rod 27 which extends longitudinal of the hood 18 through ides 28 moon on top of the hood an pro'ects outwardly through the vertical wall 0 the tank. The outer end of the operating rod 27 is formed into a handle 29 which may be gripped by an operator stationed outside of the tank to operate the rod. On pulling of the rod outwardly from the vertical wall of the tank the bell crank lever and link connections above described are operated to lift the valve body 21 away from its seat and uncover the inlet 20 in the seat19, ermitting tar to flow into the space enclose by the hood 18. Re-

verse operation of the rod 27 causes the valve bod 21 to seat in the inlet 20 and stop the ow of tar. As each hood 18 is equipped with similar mechanism for controlling the flow of tar into the space beneath the hood, and the valves 15 in the discharge branch pipes 14 are also independentl controllable, the volume of tar discharge may be adjusted within Wide limits.

The invention also provides means for insuring discharge of the tar through each of the selected discharge outlets 13 and for this purpose provision is made for feeding the tar that is permitted to how into the space enclosed by each hood 18. As shown more particularly in Fig. 3, the outer end of eac hood 18 communicates with an opening 30 in the vertical wall ot the tar tank. Encirclin the openin 30 and secured against t e vertical wal of the tank is a' ring 31 having two flanges 32 and 33. The inner flan e 32 of the ring is secured by bolts 34 directly to the vertical wall of the tankv and the outer flange 33 constitutes a seat for the end plate 35 oil a heatin coil, which is also secured thereto by he ts 34. The heatin coil 36 is constructed of piping extending longitudinally within the space enclosed by each hood 18 and comprises an inlet pipe 37, longitudinal coil pipes 38 and an outlet pipe 39, all of which are extended through and supported beneath the hood by upright coil sup orts ll). The inlet and outlet pipes 37 an 39 are respectively secured by pi e couplin 41 and 42, located in the end p ate 35, wit a steam suppl line 43 and a steam discharge line 44.. Wit this construction the entire coil 36 may be readily removed from its position beneath the hood 18 by disconnecting the pipes 37 and 39 from the steam lines 43 and/14 and disconnecting the end. plate 35 from the flange 33 of the ring 31. After the various parts have been so disconnected,.the st am coil 36 may be drawn bodily oat of the tank. When removing the coil," the valve 21 is first closed. This ermits the coil to be removed without draining the tank of tar and prevents waste of tar while the coil is being drawn out of the tank. After the coil has been replaced, the pressure beneath the hood may be equalized with .respect to the tank pressure, by, for example opening the valve 15, thereby allowing the valve 21 to be opened readily. In accordance with the invention, the discharge channel formedby each hood is equipped with a similar steam coil and consequently heat may be applied at will at each dischar ing point to convert the tar into a liqui form which will discharge readily through the discharge pipe.

The invent1on as hereinabove set forth is embodied in a particular form of construction, but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

1. In combination with a tank for containing material such as described, a hood exten ng within the tank, a removable heating coil mounted within the space enclosed by the hood for promoting discharge of the material, material discharge means communicating with the space enclosed by said hood, and valve means operable at will exteriorly of the tank for preventing tlow of material into the space enclosed by the hood whereby the heating coil may be remove without draining the tank.

2. In combination with a tank for containing viscous material such as tar and the like, a hood extending within the tank, valve means operable exteriorly of the tank for controllin the flow of material into the s ace enclose by said hood, material disc arging means communicating with the space enclosed by said hood, and a removable heating unit mounted within the space enclosed by said hood for promotin the discharge of the material through sai material discharging means.

3. In combination with a tank for containing material such as described, a hood extendin withinthe tank, a valve on the inner en of the hood for controlling the flow of material into the space enclosed by said hood, means extending to the outside oi the tank for operating said valve, material discharging means communicating with the bottom of the space enclosed by said hood,

and a removable heating coil mounted withpendently controlling the flow of material in the space enclosed by the hood for prothrough said (lischarge outlets, and a plumoting discharge of the material. relity of heating units disposed near said 10 4. 1n combination with a t k for dlscharge outlets for promoting the flow of 5 taining material such is described and prould h rethlough.

vided with a plurality of separate discharge outlets for the material, means for inde- LAWRENCE H. UNDERWOOD. 

